Kingdom by the Sea: A Blackstairs Fanfiction
by Clockwork Warlock
Summary: A li'l Blackstairs fanfiction for all of those who, like me, are DYING for The Dark Artifices! If you already love characters like Emma and Jules, have a read and tell me what you think! xxx


Chapter 1: Kingdom by the Sea

"But our love it was stronger by far than the love  
Of those who were older than we-  
Of many far wiser than we-  
And neither the angels in Heaven above  
Nor the demons down under the sea  
Can ever dissever my soul from the soul  
Of the beautiful Annabel Lee"  
\- 'Annabel Lee' Edgar Allan Poe

Emma Carstairs looked out at the ocean, safe up on the roof of the Los Angeles Institute, and thought of how something so beautiful could also be so deadly. Not many others thought of the ocean in that way, but ever since her parents, John and Cordelia Carstairs, were found as nothing less than mangled corpses in the oceans merciless embrace, Emma had been petrified of the water.

She had been 12 then.

Now at 17 she was almost an adult by Nephilim standards, grown from a scared little girl to a quite extraordinary shadowhunter. But of course that wouldn't have been the case if not for the Blackthorn family, who 5 years ago took her in as one of their own after the events of the second mortal war, and her parents death. The blackthorns' parents were dead too, so it had been up to her and Julian to take care of the younger kids.

Julian Blackthorn, her Parabatai, brother in arms and so much more than a best friend;their souls were one. Emma pressed her palm against the Parabatai rune that marked her, feeling a slight twinge of pain that was caused by the distance between her and Jules. He was coming back from England today, where he was visiting his Uncle Arthur's home in the London Institute, and as the miles between them slowly started to decrease, so did the pain in the mark that Jules cut into her skin.  
She tried not to think about it.

He would be home in a few hours and they could be together again, but for now the training room seemed like a good place to make time go faster. Casting away her maudlin thoughts with a shake of her golden head, she started making her way down to her room to change into something more suitable for training.  
When she got to her room she paused.  
*Strange*. She thought.  
*I could of sworn I closed my door when I left this morning*.  
Without another thought she entered her room and grabbed a pair of cargo shorts, her shortsword Cortana, and a thirst for some hardcore training.

In the training room the silky swish of a knife soaring through the air sounded just before the thud of metal on wood ensured the throw hit home. Knives in her hand and perspiration on her brow, Emma aligned herself with the target, and in a series or short sharp gestures, made the silver instruments fly across the room until their jagged teeth pierced the wooden target.  
"Ha!" She cried with glee,  
"Emma Carstairs, Shadowhunter extraodinaire! I'm going -" but before she could finish her sentence, an unknown forced knocked her off her feet and sent her crashing to the ground. Reaching for her sword she was about to introduce her assailant to a world of pain before she caught sight of green-blue eyes staring down at her -  
" - to welcome me home?" Julian finished her sentence for her.  
"JULES!" Emma screeched.  
Grabbing his pre-offered hand, she had half a mind to knock him flying, but she hadn't seen her Parabatai in weeks and allowed him to pull her up into a great bear hug. She could beat him up later.  
"Miss me?" He grinned.  
Of course she missed him. More than she could ever think possible. He was like her centre of gravity; a steady ship that sheltered her from a raging tempest.  
"No" she teased as she hugged him tighter.  
He didn't stop her.

"How was it then? London?" Emma enquired.  
"Cold", he replied, "But quite charming. I brought you back a souvenir, and before you ask, no, it isn't the jellified remains of some 'bloody' English demon", he said in an attempted British accent that Emma snickered at.  
"Oh, shame, I quite like jelly. Now gimme!" She demanded.  
He let a short burst of laughter leave his lips, "It's waiting for you in your room, I thought that's where you would be when I got back so I went and left it there, but then I found you here of course, training, as usual", he remarked.  
"Aha so it was you who left my bedroom door open!" Emma accused.  
"Guilty" Julian confessed sheepishly.

Emma grinned at this, and with a startling realization noted that for the duration of their conversation they had been in each other's arms. Weird. But she didn't seem to want to pull away.  
Julian was glad to be back; Parabatai being parted for too long was a bad idea, and he felt her absence strongly when he was abroad. He had felt it in every thought and breath and beat of his heart.  
Now he was back in LA, and returned to him was the warmth and feeling of completeness he always felt when with Emma.

But now there was something else too.

He looked down at her and she looked up at him, verdigris eyes trained on brown ones.  
And then there it was.  
The feeling as if the air were charged, the taste of electricity too dangerous to consume yet too tempting to ignore.  
And a single spark could set off the storm...  
They broke apart.

"Um", Emma swallowed,"You, um, had a long journey..."  
"Yeah" he agreed awkwardly, looking down, "I should go unpack".  
"You do that" she said.  
"Right" he replied.  
"Okay" she retaliated.  
They looked at each other one more time before he turned his attention to the door and headed out of the suddenly stifling room.

*Crap*. Emma thought. *What was that? It was almost like - no. Not her and Julian. They were parabatai, best friends, there were no other feelings there. There couldn't be. And yet...no. Never. Impossible*.


End file.
